Laura Seabrook's Ramblings

About 213 BCE the Romans were fighting a war with Carthage. It was not going well and panic and uncertainty was the rule. Many superstitious ideas and practices were about that were not Roman in origin. This alarmed the Senate, and to reinstate order, they issued a decree that all books of prayers, prophecies and manuals for the sacrificial cult to be delivered to the city praetor. Nor was anyone to sacrifice in public or in a sacred place according to a new or foreign rite.

Now some of the families in Rome were descended from Trojan emigrants, and prided themselves in their supposed Trojan origin. Rome was considered to be a "New Troy" by many, and thought that its fate might be dependent upon the Phrygian Goddess. The Sibylline books declared that "whenever a foreign enemy has invaded Italy, he can only be driven away and vanquished, if the Mother of Mount Ida is transferred from Pessinus to Rome". 

A delegation was sent to Delphi to consult the Oracle and then to Pergamun where the ruling King (then allied with Rome against Philip V of Macedon) gave them the statue and the black meteorite that personified Cybele. This was carried on a ship built of pine trees from Mt Ida, through Tenedos, Lesbos, the Cyclades, Euboea, Cythera, around Sicily and then to Ostia (chief port of Rome).

From Ostia the Goddess was taken by boat up the Tiber to Rome. There is a legend that the boat carrying the holy aerolith became stuck in the mud of the port which had begun to silt up. Then a young matron, whose reputation had been tarnished , removed her girdle and tied it to the boat, freeing it easily. From there Cybele was moved hand to hand by the matrons of Rome, to the Temple of Victoria until a Metro'on was built in 191 BCE .

The high priest (Battakes) and the galli did a wild dance around the sacred pine tree. The Battakes flagellated themselves and the galli with a whip hung with knuckle bones. Clarinets and cymbals were played, and timbrels beaten furiously. People would also beat their breasts with pine cones and cut their arms and shoulders with knives. The blood from this was spilled on the pine tree or altars, with screams and yells that were echoed by the crowd. Some spectators entered the frenzied dances themselves and even participated in the next step. This was ritual castration of initiates, performed with broken pottery, sharp flint, and glass. The pine was then buried. The high priest said prayers for the protection of the emperor and Empire.

It's ARBOR INTRAT today.

Full story on this page (February this year):

PALENVILLE, N.Y.

 

During Palenville Pagan Pride Day in August, the agenda reflected the goddess-centered theology of the Divine Feminine, which members say has its roots 12,000 years ago in the Goddess Cybele in Central Anatolia, in Turkey.

So after the opening ritual at 9 a.m. and sandwiched around “Lunchtime with the Priestesses,” the schedule at the old Central House inn included “The Goddess in Antiquity,” “Pagans in the Mundane World” and sessions on sacred drumming patterns, dragon rituals and the Cybeline Revival.

Still, it was the least celestial item that perhaps mattered most. That would be “Discussion of Maetreum of Cybele v. Town of Catskill, N.Y.,” a legal case dating to 2007 after the town first approved and then denied tax-exempt status for the group, which has been certified by the federal government as a tax-exempt religious charity. The goddess may rule the universe, but the lawyers will help decide whether the pagans of Palenville have a future in this historic old town just down the snowy hills from Hunter Mountain.

Built in the 1850s, the Central House functioned for most of its years as an inn in Palenville, a hamlet of about 1,000 in the Town of Catskill, which is the fictional home of Rip Van Winkle and has been called America’s first artists’ colony.

Thus, it was both somewhat jarring and not entirely impossible to imagine when four women, with interests in goddess worship and the idea of a women’s housing cooperative welcoming transsexual women, bought the increasingly decrepit inn in 2002. It eventually became the Catskills Phrygianum of the Maetreum of Cybele Magna Mater, their global headquarters and convent house. There it stands: yellow paint peeling, a pink bus in the snow, bright banners above the porch.

The group’s public face is Cathryn Platine, a stocky former certified nursing assistant and cabinet maker, who long ago lost a finger to a miter saw. Ms. Platine, 61, who describes herself as a lifelong pagan descended from a witch hanged at Salem and from John Quincy Adams, said her religion had been the only one singled out locally.

“We’re women oriented,” she said. “We’re goddess oriented. We’re gay and lesbian friendly. We’re witchy. We’re set up for communal living for priestesses. I think we set off a lot of buttons.”

She said the town’s legal case kept shifting, and the only constant seemed to be animus toward the group.

“It’s a mystery to us why this fight continues,” she said. “We’re pretty clearly who we are. And there’s nothing threatening about what we do here. Come on, we’re practically Catholic nuns except we’re willing to have sex.”

Daniel Vincelette, a lawyer representing the town, said the dispute was not over whether the group was a religion or a charity, but whether the use of the house was directly tied to the religious purpose. If the use is primarily residential and the religious use is incidental, that would not be tax exempt, he said.

“Whether it’s Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, Muslim, Hindu, whatever it is, we look at it the same way,” he said. “If you look at the documents, the way this has developed, the town’s position is that this is not supporting an exempt purpose.”

The town’s specific objections differed for the two years being contested by the group, but both focused on the use of the house, not whether the group was a valid religion.

That may be wise, given the religious figurines and pictures inside, the detailed theology on the Web site and regular events like daily praise observances, goddess meetups, full moon observances, priestess training and others that might not be Sunday church religion but could easily be viewed as religion nonetheless.

There are, of course, all kinds of questions that can be asked about religious tax exemptions over all, but the Maetreum’s $5,400 tax bill is unlikely to rival the multimillion-dollar exemptions of conventional religions. Still, with unconventional religions on the rise, it poses issues that go beyond the old inn here.

The Cybelines are facing possible foreclosure proceedings for the $13,800 they owe and appealing for money. But in the smorgasbord of religious law, they may also have weapons of their own if they want to pursue a discrimination claim. They say they just want to get back to where they were.

“Our goal is simply to have them recognize us, give back the money they owe us and our attorney fees, and leave us alone,” Ms. Platine said. “We will walk away from this happily if they’re willing to do that.”

Lavatio (27 March) is the last of a series of celebrations held in Roman times related to Cybele and Attis, representing a cycle of death and rebirth.

A long and magnificent procession took
place along the Appian Way, during which the Phrygian priests and priestesses carried her image in procession through the city, begging
alms in her name...striking their timbrels, while their followers play tunes upon their flutes in honour of the Mother of the Gods.

Then the idol would be dipped into the Almo river, rubbed with ash and then washed, and showered with flowers. Other religious artefacts were also washed. The Goddess was asked if she would return to Rome, and then taken back the way She came (so we assume the answer was YES).

There's a mix of symbols and allegories here, and reasons for the ritual. Firstly, it exposed the image of Cybele to public adoration. Secondly, it allowed for a form of "spring cleaning" representing a final part of the cycle of renewal. Also, the asking of, and return of the idol echoes the story of how Cybele came to Rome - a delegation was sent Pergamun to invite the Goddess to Rome, after which the statue and black meteorite that represented Her was transported across the Mediterranean to Rome. So what's it all about?

In the previous days of the the cycle, we have initiated a period of reflection and contemplation (Canna Intrat); we have grieved and mourned what we discarded and left behind (Arbor intrat); we have sacrificed what is necessary obtain our goals, and committed to them (Dies Sanguinis); we have reached or changed our goals, and in the process changed ourselves (Hilaria); and we have rested from all of that (Requietio).

But within all of this, live goes on - life is a cycle of cycles.

Before enlightenment, we chop wood and carry water. And after enlightenment we still chop wood and carry water (though indeed we may well appreciate these more). The small things we do that sustain life are as important as our larger goals and dreams. So, we might well perceive the meaning of the universe, achieve that dream or reach that lofty goal, but we still need to put out the garbage, still polish up the silver and spring clean our homes.

Hilaria (25 March) was a day of rejoicing.

In Roman times, this was part of series of celebrations related to Cybele and Attis, representing a cycle of death and rebirth.

On the day following Dies Sanguinis the resurrection of Attis was proclaimed. This was the day of "Hilaria" or rejoicing. The first day when day is longer then night. It was a festival of Spring and life rediscovered.

There was a triumphal procession which would feature Cybele's idol; borrowed works of art; knights and senators; freedmen; flute players; trumpeters; drummers and chanters. This was followed by a lavish feasting.

Sources vary about the nature of Attis's resurrection. Some say that he was reborn as the evergreen pine; others that the body of Attis was preserved; and other more recent sources that Attis was reborn as a woman. Ultimately, the exact details don't matter that much - what matters is the idea of death and rebirth.

This was a theme in Mediterranean religions long before the spread of Christianity popularised the idea. Tammuz, Adonis, Osiris and Attis are all consorts of a Goddess, who die and yet are resurrected rather than remain dead. Some interpretations of resurrection are physical and involve an afterlife, or reincarnation. Others are emotional or spiritual, such as ego death and reconstruction, or of being "born again". Resurrections are not just simple restorations - they always involve change and alteration from what was, to what is.

Previously, we may have grieved for what should have been but wasn't, or for what has been lost and mattered. We may have also committed to a goal and sacrificed smaller desires for that goal. But there comes a time when either that goal is reached or abandoned. Either way a "death" is involved - because either way what was the goal ceases to be so any more. But it is rare that things then become static for us, that there remains a vacuum of desire in our lives - rather they change and become resurrected in new goals, ideas and ways of being. We move on and embrace further change, one way or another.

And that surely, is cause for celebration. 

The seven following days the Canna Intrat (15th March) were famous as Castus Matris ("Fast of the Mother"). On March 22nd the procession of the Arbor Intrat took place.  Before sunrise, a pine tree was felled in a sacred grove of Cybele. An effigy of Attis was attached to it and decorated in violets and ribbons. It was then carried in procession through Rome by the dendophori (to the weeping of the gallae) to the sanctuary, where it was exposed to the adoration of the crowd before being laid in state.

The following day was a "day or mourning" and lamentation. The Salli (who were priest dancers of Mars) went in procession sounding their trumpets and beating their shields.

In our life we undergo many transformations and transitions, not just ones that we focus on. They are not always wanted and often we defer them (if we can) through fear and insecurity. Sometimes we embrace and initiate these changes, making them the centres of our lives for better or worse. And with change (even change we desire) there often comes grief and mourning. Grief can come over lost relationships, or expectations and ideas of ourselves that have proven either false or unbearable.

One can deny such grief, pretend it's not there or that it doesn't matter, but by doing so we also depreciate the worth of what we grieve for, and deny our history. Rather, it is often better to mourn for things lost, because this is ourselves owning our pain. In doing so we can acknowledge the role that such relationships and expectations played in our lives, and in doing so can also accept the good that came from them.

Mourning takes - however long it takes. And when mourning finishes, if we've paid attention  to ourselves, often we can be refreshed and ready to move on.

I've been researching for Tales of the Galli, in which I'm currently telling the myth of Cybele and Attis. Anyway, I was looking up Attis and found an entry for Attis under Baby Name Guesser. It had the following text:

When naming your baby Attis, it's important to consider the gender of the name itself. When people look at the name Attis, they might ask the question, "is Attis a man or a woman?", or "what is the gender of the name Attis?" Some names are more gender neutral than others, and some names are more strongly associated with either males or females.

Who else can see some humour in this (very definitely an "in joke")?